Turbine.



Patented Dec.27,1910.

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ALONZO W. BENNETT, 0F HAMDEN, CONNECTICUT.

TURBINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2'7, 1910.

Application filed. December 18, 1909. Serial No. 533,820.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALONZO W. BENNETT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hamden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Turbine-Engines; and I dohereby declare the following, when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which saiddrawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1 a broken view partly in side elevation and partly in verticallongitudinal section of a turbine engine constructed in accordance withmy invention. Fig. 2 a view thereof partly in section and partly in endelevation looking from left to right. Fig. 3 a brokensectlonal view onan enlarged scale on the line a-b of 1. Fig. 4 a view in the nature of adiagram showing the relative arrangement of the angular bucketsrespectively mounted upon the piston and applied to the inner face ofthe steam-chest.

My invention relates to an improved turbine engine designed withparticular reference to driving steam launches and steam automobiles,the object being to produce a simple, compact and durable engineconstructed with particular reference to securing a very high speed, torealizing the maximum of efliciency from the steam, to reducing theamount of oil none of which is used in the cylinder, to dispensing withthe regulator and the steam valves heretofore employed inturbineengines, and to applying the power of the steam at its very firstentrance into the cylinder so that the engine is adapted to start with aload instead of waiting until it gets up speed as is necessary with theengines now incommon use.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain details ofconstruction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter describedand pointed out in the claims.-

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a shaft 2 uponwhich I mount a rotary piston 3 having a circular rim 4: and deepconcentric chambers 5 and 5 at its ends, the latter forming a chamberfor the exhaust-steam. The said shaft 2 is journaled at its ends insleeves 6 surrounded by long rollers 7 inclosed betweenthe said sleeves,and larger sleeves 8 located within housings 9 supported by ribs orbrackets 10 cast integral with the lower half 11 of the cylinder orsteam-chest the upper half 12 of which is secured to it in the usualmanner by bolts 18. To provide for the endthrust of the shaft 2 theouter ends of the sleeves 6 and 8 and the outer ends of the rollers 7are abutted against angle rings 14 the angles of which receive rings 15having a circular series of perforations 16 containing anti-frictionballs 17, interposed between and running upon the said rings 14 andwashers 18, the latter being located in the extreme outer ends of thehousings 9 which are provided with openings 19 for oiling. Thelongitudinal thrust of the shaft 2 in either direction is taken by theball-bearing devices just described.

Upon the heavy circular rim 4 of the piston 8, I mount a series ofbucket-carrying rings 20 and bucket-spacing rings 21, these belngarranged alternately and by preference shrunk upon the said rim 4:though I do not limit myself to securing them in place in any particularway. The said bucket-carrying rings 20 are provided with integralradially projecting angular buckets 22 extending outward betweencorresponding angular buckets 23 formed integral with and extendingradially inward from semicircular bucket-c'arrying rings 24 attached byscrews 25 to the innerfaces of the upper and lower sections 12 and 11 ofthe steamchest to which live steam is admitted through a port 26 in theupper section 12. The buckets 22 moving with the piston are arranged toface in the opposite direction from the buckets 23 stationary with thesteam-chest and vice Versa, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, so thatthe steam passing through them is deflected at substantially a rightangle as shown by the arrows on the said figure.

Between the bucket-carrying rings 24 I locate semi-circularfilling-rings 24 which stand opposite or face the buckets 22 of thebucket-carrying rings 20, just as the stationary buckets 23 standopposite or face the bucket-spacing rings 21 mounted upon the piston asaforesaid. By the employment of the rings 21 and 24* in the mannerdescribed, the spaces between the buckets are contracted, whereby thesteam is compelled to flow through more constricted passages and mademore effective by being prevented from prematurely expanding.

Live steam entering through the port 26 formed in the upper part 12 ofthe steamchest and in adjacent ring 24, acts at once upon the buckets 22formed integral with the ring 20 at the extreme left hand end of thepiston. By these buckets 22 the steam is deflected into the stationarybuckets 23 formed integral with the adjacent pair of semi-circular rings24, from which it is deflected to the adjacent buckets 22 carried by thepiston and so on from left to right through the tortuous passages formedby the oppositely arranged buckets 22 and 23 until the steam nowexpanded finds its way into the exhaust-chamber 5 and leaves the enginethrough the exhaust-port 28 and thence flows into the exhaust-pipe 29.At this time, as will be understood, the check valve 30 is closed toprevent the exhaust.- steam from entering the piston-reversing chamber31 formed by enlarging the left hand end of the steam-chest as will bede scribed later on. It will be understood also that the buckets 23being stationary with the steam-chest, form points of purchase againstwhich the steam acts in imparting rotary movement to the piston 3.

To reverse the engine, I admit steam into a port 32 (Fig. 2), formed inthe upper part 12 of the steam-chest. This part opens into thesteam-chamber 31 formed in the enlargement 33 of the left hand of thesaid steam-chest and located in a plane at a right angle to the axisthereof. Entering the said chamber 31 the steam acts upon a series ofradial blades 34 located upon the outer face of a vertically arrangeddisk 35 fastened by screws 36 to the left hand edge of the rim 4 of thepiston 3, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, whereby the piston 3 is reversedin rotation. The steam so used passes from the chamber 31 through anexhaust-port 37 into an exhaust-pipe 38 separated from the exhaust-pipe39 by the check-valve 30 which is left open at this time to form aconnection between the pipe 34 and the pipe 29.

To prevent steam from escaping from the steam-chest around the journalsof the shaft 2, I employ tw'o two-part bushings 40 the parts of whichare secured together by bolts 41, and which extend between the bottomwalls of the chambers 5 and 5 in the piston and the housings 9aforesaid, passing through the ends of the steam-chest. These bushingsare enlarged at points within the said steam-chest to form annularfan-chambers 42 encircling the shaft 2 and containing rings 43 keyed tothe said shaft and carrying radially arranged inwardly extending blades44 functioning as fans, since when the shaft revolves, they sweepthrough the said chambers 42 so as to produce a sufficient inwardpressure of air to prevent the steam from working outward.

I claim 1. In a turbine engine, the combination with a steam-chest, of arotary piston formed at one end with a deep concentric exhaust-chamber,a series of rings mounted upon the piston in spaced arrangement, bucketsprojecting outwardly from the said rings, a series of rings applied inspaced arrangement to the inner wall of the steamchest, bucketsprojecting from the rings last mentioned inwardly between the bucketscarried by the said rings on the piston, a steam passage for theentrance of steam directly into the outer row of buckets carried by thepiston from which buckets the steam passes directly into the outer rowof buckets carried by the chest, and so on from one end of the system ofbuckets to the other, and means located at the end of the pistonoppositefrom the said exhaust-chamber, for reversing the direction of thepiston.

2. In a turbine engine, the combination with a steam-chest, of a rotarypiston having a concentric exhaust-chamber at one end, a series ofbucket-carrying rings mounted upon the piston, buckets carried by thesaid rings, spacing-rings located between the said bucket-carryingrings, a series of bucketcarrying rings applied to the inner face of thesteam-chest, buckets carried by the rings last mentioned and extendinginto the spaces between the buckets carried by the piston,blocking-rings located between the bucket-carrying rings of thesteam-chest, a steam passage for admitting steam directly into thebuckets at the end of the piston opposite its exhaust-chamber, and meanslocated at the end of the piston opposite its exhaust-chamber, forreversing the piston.

3. In a turbine engine, the combination with a steam-chest having at oneend a piston-reversing steam-chamber located at a right angle to theaxis of the chest, of a rotary piston, steam buckets carried by thepiston and steam-chest and arranged in alternation for the progressivepassage through them from one end to the other of live steam, a headsecured to one end of the piston and extending into the saidpistonreversing chamber of the chest and pro vided with radiallyarranged blades, and steam passages leading into and out of the saidpistonreversing chamber, whereby the rotation of the piston may bereversed.

4. In a rotary steam engine, the combination with the steam chestthereof, of a rotary piston located therein and having its opposite endsrecessed, a shaft for the said piston, steam buckets arranged inalternating roWs respectively carried by the piston and steam-chest,steam passages for the introduction of steam into one end of the systemof buckets through which it passes to the other end thereof in actuatingthe r0- tary piston, housings mounted upon the shaft and containingfan-chambers, and fans mounted upon the said shaft and located in thesaid fan-chambers for the production of specification in the presence oftWo subscrib- 1-5 ing Witnesses.

ALONZO W. BENNETT.

Witnesses:

JAMES E. SCOTT, HENRY H. RICE.

